NAILING HORSESHOES ON. 
209 
calculation in our mind of what we shall gain and what we shall 
lose—what risks we run from the change, and what counter¬ 
balancing profits are held out to us by its success. 
The shoeing process is an affair of art, under the cognizance 
of mechanical principles; and art is most happily employed 
when it executes its purpose at the least possible expence to the 
vital machine it is engaged with. That horseshoe is the best 
of all others which fulfils every required end of a shoe or defence 
to the hoof, at the same time that it does not detrimentally inter¬ 
fere with the functions of the living foot. To adjust the balance 
nicely between these two objects, may be said to constitute the 
science of farriery. In the present state of our knowledge, it 
would appear impossible to fulfil both; consequently, he de¬ 
serves the greatest merit who can approach the nearest to so 
vitally important a desideratum. And to Mr. Turner, for his 
repeated efforts to accomplish something extraordinary, the pro¬ 
fession owes, at least, its meed of approbation. On the present 
occasion, however, I, for one, am desirous to ascertain the real 
value of the fruits, offered to the veterinary public, of Mr. T/s 
labours. 
In order to arrive at a correct estimate of this, we must pro¬ 
ceed step by step, and take every progressive step with caution. 
1st. Let us inquire what we gain by nailing the shoe upon 
both sides. 
Looking with a geometrician's eye at the inferior surface of 
the hoof, we shall discover that its circular or ovoid figure ren¬ 
ders it susceptible of that reciprocal resistance and support which 
is the characteristic mechanical attribute of a complete circle or 
any thing constructed in the form of an arch : whatever force is 
applied to it at one point, is resisted by the support which that 
point receives from every other in the circle; and this reciprocity 
cannot be at any single point destroyed without manifest injury 
to the entire structure. The circular figure of the hoof, there¬ 
fore, not only gives it the largest superficies possible'within the 
same limited dimensions, but it also endows it with a power of 
resistance which, under any other form, it would not possess. 
As with the hoof so it is with the shoe. Its corresponding cir¬ 
cular figure enables the scientific artisan to give its attachment 
to the hoof that stability and pow r er of resistance which no other 
form would so well admit of. This he carries into effect by 
nailing on both sides; the nails on one side supporting' those on 
the opposite side, and vice versa . Upon the hoof in figure, a 
perfect circle, these opposite and reciprocal points of support 
would be shewn by chords drawn through its centre: where, 
however, the figure is that of an oval, we can only obtain such 
